Theory’s defining political value is the distance it effects from the immanent

Evidence

Theory effects distance, abstraction, movement away. Immediacy foments intimacy, immersion, the negation of intercession. Theory takes us out of a situation, out of phenomenality, out of ourselves, and into realms of reflection that escalate to include the dislocation of our ineluctable situatedness, conceptualization of our many determinations, and speculation about inexperienced possibilities. Immediacy imbibes the immanent. — Anna Kornbluh, Immediacy, or The Style of Too Late…, 252

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines theory and immediacy as opposing postures — distance/abstraction versus intimacy/immersion — the conceptual heart of her defense of mediation.